So I water my plants, go out, do a little shopping, capture some small animals, the usual. When I get back home I notice I've missed a couple spots to water. Then...another patch turns unwatered. Right in front of me. Patches of tilled soil just flipped from being irrigated to dry. It was at about 5 PM and I watered my plants first thing in the morning. It wasn't raining.

Where did the water go? Are my plants still "watered" for that day or what? Is this something I need to know about or am I cool if I just water each square once a day?

2 Answers
2

Crops can be watered up to twice a day; they become dry ten hours after originally watering them. If you want your crops to grow at average speed, just water them once, and ignore them. They will grow at the top end of the growth range.

But by watering them twice a day, they will grow faster. If you manage to water them twice every single day, you will achieve the minimum growth time for the crops, thereby harvesting them faster, and allowing more crop growth throughout the season. It's more effort, yes, but it's also the more profitable way to do it.

Fun fact: rain only counts as watering it once; there's no way to water it that extra time needed to maximise efficiency.